Anomalous capacitance-voltage hysteresis in MOS devices with ZrO2 and HfO2 dielectrics

Abstract

Anomalous behaviors in capacitance-voltage (CV) characteristics are observed on MOS devices with ZrO2 and HfO2 oxides. The relative positions of forward and reverse CV traces measured by pulse technique are opposite to those obtained by LCR meter. This unusual phenomenon cannot be consistently explained by trapping/de-trapping of charges. A hypothesis related to interface dipoles is proposed to provide a possible explanation.